Byung-il Choi is a professor and the former Dean of the Graduate School of International Studies. Prior to joining the GSIS in 1997 as a founding faculty, he was a trade negotiator representing the Korean government. He was the Korean chief negotiator for the WTO basic telecom negotiations (1994-1997). He negotiated service agreement and the telecom annex at the Uruguay Round, the Korea-US telecom agreement, and the Korea-EU telecom agreement. He led the Korean initiative of the Asia-Pacific Information Infrastructure (APII) at the APEC Summit to reduce the information divide. His contribution was appreciated as instrumental in Korea’s rise to the global leader in the information and communication sector, as recognized by the two medals of excellence from the Korean government.

Professor Choi the Founder and President of the Free Trade Academia - Professors for Free Trade, the Vice President of the United Nations Association-ROK, and a member of Trade Negotiations Advisory Council for the government of Korea. Most recently, he was the President of the Korea Economic Research Institute, a leading think tank representing the Korean business sector. He was a member of the National Economic Advisory Council for the President of Korea, and also a member of advisory council for the Ministry of Foreign Affair and Trade. He served the President of the Korea Association of Negotiation Studies and the President for the Korean Association of Trade and Industry Studies.

Professor Choi has been a regular speaker to many high-profile international fora, including US-Korea Forum, Beijing Forum, Shanghai Forum, Korea-Japan Strategic Dialogue, Korea-US-China Trilateral Dialogue. His opinion has been printed in major Korea media outlet. His book, the Success and Failure of Trade Negotiations of Korea (2004), earned him the Korean Academy of Arts and Sciences Award. His book, The KORUS FTA: Against the All Odds (in Korean, 2006) was the national best-seller. His book includes China, New Paradigm (2016), A Nation Haunted by the Top 1%: Rebuilding Korean Economy (2014). His new book, North East Asia in 2030: Forging Ahead or Drifting Away? is forthcoming.

Professor Choi received B.A. from Seoul National University and Ph.D. in economics from Yale. He was visiting professor at George Washington University, Grinnell College and Ghent University.

Research Negotiations Strategy, Trade Policy, Global Economic Governance, Political Economy of East Asia, US-China Relations, Trade Architecture in East Asia

Major Fields International Negotiations, International Trade, Korean Economy, International Political Economy